ELT Conference inspires audiences
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Various presentations and workshops related to teaching students English were given to an audience of about 160 on Sunday at The Yomiuri Shimbun's headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. The audience, mainly English-language teachers, listened intently to the presentations by English teaching experts and participated in various workshops that gave practical ideas and methods for teaching English effectively in classes.
During the daylong conference, three main speeches were given by Prof. Curtis Kelly of Osaka Gakuin University, Prof. Tim Murphey of Dokkyo University and Prof. Yoshinori Watanabe of Sophia University. In between these speeches, presentations and workshops were given to smaller groups attending one of up to four presentations held in each time slot. In each room, experts shared their ideas with participants in an informal, friendly manner.
Fergus MacKinnon of the British Council attracted the attention of those who came to his presentation by displaying a detailed map of Liverpool, where he was brought up, and showing his "family crest." This was his way of introducing the theme of bringing the outside world into the classroom.
He invited ideas from the audience about what they thought was appropriate to bring from the outside world into the classroom. The audience gave him various ideas for realia such as media, including TV and radio shows and newspapers, and content found on the Internet, in Podcasts and on CDRs.
As an example of "real" English that learners can take away and use in situations outside the classroom, he used his own cell phone to call a JR telephone information service that provides information on JR train schedules and the fastest JR routes between locations. The service is provided in English, Korean and Chinese.
On a completely different note, Curtis Kelly started his presentation with the following remark: "I am not a brain researcher..."
Kelly talked about teaching methods that are compatible with the way our brains actually work. He introduced recent technology that can show us what goes on inside the human brain.
Starting out very much like a scientist with a description of what the brain is like from the very number of cells it has, Kelly went on to deny various common notions such as the idea that the "adult brain cannot grow new cells" or that "emotions and intelligence are separate."
He showed a video outlining a physical model of learning and explained how learning from inputs is not linear but complex, and that the biggest single factor facilitating better learning is deep processing.
Kelly asked the audience what factors might help (or prevent) deep processing. Answers from the audience included: involvement, necessity, repetition, errors, stress and personalization. He said nutrition, sleep, a safe environment and peer relations were also import!ant for deep processing together with some content factors such as meaningfulness and novelty--the surprise factor, as it were.
The majority of Kelly's audience were native English speakers.
Many of the Japanese teachers chose to attend a workshop by Miyoko Kobayashi, professor at the graduate school of Kanda University of International Studies. She talked about how to improve and eval!uate students' English-speaking abilities by introducing various training methods.
"I think physical training is necessary for pronouncing English sounds correctly. Breathing methods and rhythm are very import!ant," she said.
Kobayashi demonstrated some facial muscle exercises as an initial method for improving English pronunciation and invited all the members of the audience to try the exercises for themselves.
"I recommend you try this facial muscle training every day. It's good for health and beauty also," she said.
As for assessing abilities, she talked of the need for clear objectives.
"It's import!ant that the aim of daily teaching meets the criteria of the assessment," she said. "I usually test my students' speaking during regular lessons. I also get students to eval!uate whether they feel they have reached the goals and objectives that they had set for themselves."
Enthused by the content of the conference, participants continued their discussions after the sessions had officially finished, with many talking in person with the lecturers or exchanging opinions with other teachers at a reception held afterward.
(Jun. 1, 2007)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Various presentations and workshops related to teaching students English were given to an audience of about 160 on Sunday at The Yomiuri Shimbun's headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. The audience, mainly English-language teachers, listened intently to the presentations by English teaching experts and participated in various workshops that gave practical ideas and methods for teaching English effectively in classes.
During the daylong conference, three main speeches were given by Prof. Curtis Kelly of Osaka Gakuin University, Prof. Tim Murphey of Dokkyo University and Prof. Yoshinori Watanabe of Sophia University. In between these speeches, presentations and workshops were given to smaller groups attending one of up to four presentations held in each time slot. In each room, experts shared their ideas with participants in an informal, friendly manner.
Fergus MacKinnon of the British Council attracted the attention of those who came to his presentation by displaying a detailed map of Liverpool, where he was brought up, and showing his "family crest." This was his way of introducing the theme of bringing the outside world into the classroom.
He invited ideas from the audience about what they thought was appropriate to bring from the outside world into the classroom. The audience gave him various ideas for realia such as media, including TV and radio shows and newspapers, and content found on the Internet, in Podcasts and on CDRs.
As an example of "real" English that learners can take away and use in situations outside the classroom, he used his own cell phone to call a JR telephone information service that provides information on JR train schedules and the fastest JR routes between locations. The service is provided in English, Korean and Chinese.
On a completely different note, Curtis Kelly started his presentation with the following remark: "I am not a brain researcher..."
Kelly talked about teaching methods that are compatible with the way our brains actually work. He introduced recent technology that can show us what goes on inside the human brain.
Starting out very much like a scientist with a description of what the brain is like from the very number of cells it has, Kelly went on to deny various common notions such as the idea that the "adult brain cannot grow new cells" or that "emotions and intelligence are separate."
He showed a video outlining a physical model of learning and explained how learning from inputs is not linear but complex, and that the biggest single factor facilitating better learning is deep processing.
Kelly asked the audience what factors might help (or prevent) deep processing. Answers from the audience included: involvement, necessity, repetition, errors, stress and personalization. He said nutrition, sleep, a safe environment and peer relations were also import!ant for deep processing together with some content factors such as meaningfulness and novelty--the surprise factor, as it were.
The majority of Kelly's audience were native English speakers.
Many of the Japanese teachers chose to attend a workshop by Miyoko Kobayashi, professor at the graduate school of Kanda University of International Studies. She talked about how to improve and eval!uate students' English-speaking abilities by introducing various training methods.
"I think physical training is necessary for pronouncing English sounds correctly. Breathing methods and rhythm are very import!ant," she said.
Kobayashi demonstrated some facial muscle exercises as an initial method for improving English pronunciation and invited all the members of the audience to try the exercises for themselves.
"I recommend you try this facial muscle training every day. It's good for health and beauty also," she said.
As for assessing abilities, she talked of the need for clear objectives.
"It's import!ant that the aim of daily teaching meets the criteria of the assessment," she said. "I usually test my students' speaking during regular lessons. I also get students to eval!uate whether they feel they have reached the goals and objectives that they had set for themselves."
Enthused by the content of the conference, participants continued their discussions after the sessions had officially finished, with many talking in person with the lecturers or exchanging opinions with other teachers at a reception held afterward.
(Jun. 1, 2007)